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3232147850407Are your team forgetting important details? Improve their memory with these quick and simple communication techniques.https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-team-forgetting-important-details-improve-their-memory-with-these-quick-and-simple-communication-techniques/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-team-forgetting-important-details-improve-their-memory-with-these-quick-and-simple-communication-techniques/#respondFri, 20 Apr 2018 08:11:30 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37850Do you find yourself repeating the same things over and over again to your team? Do they consistently miss the point of what you’re trying to say? Do they find themselves forgetting the key details that make or break a project?
Do I sound like a bad infomercial?
It’s frustrating and can be really damaging to business goals if your team routinely forget the specifics of what you’ve communicated.
Believe it or not, I used to experience this on a regular basis before I studied NLP and communication. It’s actually something that comes up for our clients all the time, so you’re not alone.

Do you find yourself repeating the same things over and over again to your team? Do they consistently miss the point of what you’re trying to say? Do they find themselves forgetting the key details that make or break a project?

Do I sound like a bad infomercial?

It’s frustrating and can be really damaging to business goals if your team routinely forget the specifics of what you’ve communicated.

Believe it or not, I used to experience this on a regular basis before I studied NLP and communication. It’s actually something that comes up for our clients all the time, so you’re not alone.

Communication is paramount for great leadership. So, I’ve been on a quest to improve communication across businesses, including my own.

After years of intensive study, I’ve become a Master Practitioner of NLP. What this means is I have extensive experience of understanding how the mind receives and processes information, so I know the best way to communicate to get your message heard.

NLP is so mind-blowingly effective for getting the best out of people. I wanted to share the incredible tools I’ve learnt in my studies to help your team retain and act on more of what you say.

Utilise the senses

Research shows that our conscious mind can only handle about 5-9 bits of information at a time.

This means that the mind has to have a way of coping with the millions of bits of information that’s thrown at it every second. Can you imagine this being a conscious process?!

I can barely handle walking and texting at the same time, let alone being fully aware of every bit of information my brain picks up!

So, in order to cope, the mind is constantly deleting, distorting, and generalising information.

But what does this mean for you?

It means that some of your words will be getting deleted by your teams brains. Sorry, but it’s just the way our brains are wired!

You need to remember that this isn’t a conscious choice. They’re not doing it because they don’t care about what you’re saying or they’re ‘conveniently’ forgetting information to make their lives easier. That can happen, but it’s a whole other subject that I’ll write about soon!

This ‘deleting’ happens automatically.

The mind has several filters which help it to determine what information is important to focus on. What these NLP techniques do is to use these filters to our advantage.

You can help the important information get through the filters in the conscious mind and stick within the subconscious mind, keeping the information safe.

“But how?!” I hear you ask. I’m getting to it, I promise!

The first thing you need to do is utilise as many senses as you can.

This means using pictures, sounds, and feelings.

Using pictures to improve memory and information retention

I was onsite with a client last week, coaching one of their employees. The employee was convinced that he had a terrible memory and that’s why he struggled to remember what his Manager asks him to do.

However, when I finished the skills training I created for him, I tested him by asking some questions. Sure enough, the information wasn’t coming freely to mind.

So, I drew a picture for him and asked him to make a mental snapshot of the page. When I took the notepad away and asked him to keep looking in the same spot the notepad was on, he was able to recall every word on the page, exactly where it was on the page.

The reason he thought he had a bad memory was because he hadn’t developed a strategy to remember. For him, using images meant he count retain more information!

Everyone will have different strategies that work for them, but visual cues tend to work best for most people. Once he understood this strategy worked for him, he was able to apply it to his day-to-day life.

When I spoke to him today, he said that his memory has drastically improved and he hasn’t forgotten any tasks his Manager has set him yet!

So why am I telling you this?

Well, when you add pictures to words, you’re significantly increasing the likelihood that your employee will remember the information that you’ve shared.

Even if you write up bullet points in different colours and get them to remember it visually, that’s enough to work. It doesn’t need to be artistic to tap into this approach! Don’t crack out the paints yet.

In fact, I’ve had success with this by just writing down each point and showing it to them. Nothing fancy, it’s as simple as that!

Using sounds to improve memory and information retention

When you’re saying a long sentence, or imparting a lot of information in a short space of time, the words can merge into each other. At this point, the mind is busy deleting, distorting, and generalising.

It’s important that you use sound to let the mind know that something important is happening.

Changing the tone on key points will make a big difference to how easily your team can retain the information.

Or, if there are any supporting sound effects or songs that the words are similar to, the mind can make more meaning of the information. When this happens, they’re more likely to retain it.

Have you ever noticed how when you hear a certain phrase within a song, it can transport your mind back to that song? Even if you haven’t heard it in years?

Or maybe you hear a particular melody and your mind knows exactly what song it is, and you can sing along even though without the music you’d struggle to remember the exact words?

That’s because sound is one of the key information sources we use to make meaning of the world. It’s one of the easiest ways to get into the subconscious mind.

So, if you turn information into pictures and sounds, you’re almost guaranteed that the mind will retain it.

Using feelings to improve memory and information retention

Have you seen the quote, “People will forget what you say, but they’ll never forget how you made them feel.”?

Not all information you share will generate feelings. It’s hard for most people to get excited about budget reports or yearly targets! This is part of the reason why some information can be missed and deleted by the mind.

But when I talk about feelings, I’m not just talking about emotions. I also mean physical sensations.

Many people attending training will want a physical manual to hold on to when they get in the room. It’s something to touch. Something real to get a grasp of. This stimulates the kinaesthetic part of our system.

Feelings can be generated by physical movement, actions, and experiences.

So, if you’re sharing important information and you them to walk over to the board and write up the bullet points for you, they’re not only hearing your speak and seeing the board, they’re also experiencing it too.

This can make a huge difference to the chances that information will be retained.

It’s why when your teachers at school wanted to you study, they’ll always suggest you revise by writing all of your notes down multiple times. I don’t know about you but as annoying as it was, it worked!

It’s also why in training it’s always best practice to have practical experiences that enable people to get into the task and learn by doing.

How to understand what’s missing about your communication

At the end of the day, sit down away from the day-to-day tasks and map out on a page the communication that’s being missed in your business.

Once you have a clear outline of what information your team are forgetting, have a think about how you can communicate in a way that incorporates the sense. This will make a huge difference and help you to relax a little more in the knowledge that your team are acting on what you say!

I’ve written quite a few articles about communication for leaders as it’s one of my passions. We run regular specialist training on improving communication in businesses, so you can trust I know what I’m talking about. You can read my latest article here: How to develop effective communication skills.

Alternatively, if you would like some training for your employees or your leadership team, you can contact me for an informative chat on natalie@podhr.co.uk

Sign-up to The People Expert newsletter and get a new technique guaranteed to improve your work results every Monday.

]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-team-forgetting-important-details-improve-their-memory-with-these-quick-and-simple-communication-techniques/feed/037850Are you on top of emotional well-being in your business? Use this questionnaire to find out.https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/are-you-on-top-of-emotional-well-being-in-your-business-use-this-questionnaire-to-find-out/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/are-you-on-top-of-emotional-well-being-in-your-business-use-this-questionnaire-to-find-out/#respondMon, 09 Apr 2018 08:11:56 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37841Taking care of your employees mental health has become far more of a ‘hot button’ topic in the last few years, with good reason!
The mental health of your employees can greatly impact your results. In fact, a recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development study highlighted the impact that mental ill health can have on organisations.

Taking care of your employees mental health has become far more of a ‘hot button’ topic in the last few years, with good reason!

The mental health of your employees can greatly impact your results. In fact, a recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development study highlighted the impact that mental ill health can have on organisations. The study found that:

37% of sufferers are more likely to get into conflict with colleagues

57% find it harder to juggle multiple tasks

80% find it difficult to concentrate

62% take longer to do tasks

50% are potentially less patient with customers/clients.

The study also found that, for the first time, stress is the major cause of long-term absence in manual and non-manual workers.

Once you’ve completed this checklist, you can calculate your score using the below information:

Never – 0 points

Sometimes – 1 point

Always – 2 points

The maximum score is 36.

I’ve put together a summary of what your results mean and some guidance to improve your mental health awareness and support throughout your business.

You scored 0-18

Research shows that 1 in 6 workers are dealing with mental health problems at work. With a score as low as 18, you won’t have the right policies and processes in place to support those workers.

Your business may be at risk of high absence and all of the associated costs. You risk grievances being raised, productivity going down the toilet, and you may even be in breach of employment law.

If you haven’t got up to speed with this yet, it’s not too late.

I would recommend a full and thorough review of your policies and educate yourself, and your management team, to ensure you’re all equipped with the awareness and leadership skills necessary to support those in need.

This can start relatively small and without any budgetary needs. Such as:

Ensure that you have opportunities for employee feedback and space for open and honest discussion.

Often this starts with you being open minded enough to listen. This means you can’t be defensive or judgemental with whatever they come forward with.

In addition to those free resources, you can find plenty of information on the ACAS website.

We help employers address mental health at work using NLP Coaching. In fact, I’ve recently completed a project working with 30 employees to improve their mental well-being.

I helped employees release phobias, move on from past traumas, relieve anxiety and stress, alleviate the symptoms of depression, empower employees with well-being practises, improve self-esteem, and train the management team in stress management techniques and employee support.

Their staff absence has since seen a phenomenal reduction, and I’m still getting incredible feedback from the management team that the employees are more motivated than ever, looking for more responsibilities and accomplishing more than they thought possible.

One employee told me that on any day, she could expect her anxiety to be triggered by 35 different situations. Now, they have no impact on her whatsoever and she’s calmer and happier than she’s ever been!

It’s a complex subject, so that’s why I enjoy supporting employers with this topic. It can have massive impact, without breaking the bank and in a pretty short amount of time!

As HR Specialists and Accredited Master NLP Practitioners and Hypnotherapists, we’re well equipped to help you develop your organisational strategies for supporting positive mental health. We also offer a free consultation period, where we’ll give you plenty of free advice whether you decide to work with us or not.

You’re doing pretty well! You already have knowledge of mental health and how it affects your employees and may already have useful processes in place.

If you’re in this scoring category, you may want to consider the consistency of how you apply your knowledge and processes.

Perhaps you could review how often you apply the above points? You need to assess and understand what stops you making it a regular action. Only then can you identify what steps you need to take in order to get on top of this and protect your business, your employees, and your performance 100% of the time.

At POD HR & Training, we support businesses with emotional well-being at work and help leaders with tools and techniques to support employees and their performance.

Even if employees don’t have ill mental health, there may be some limiting beliefs blocking their performance.

Clients often call us in to work directly with employees using NLP Coaching, or sometimes they get us in to train managers. If you’d like to see what options could be available for you, you can contact me at natalie@podhr.co.uk and I can give you some free advice.

You scored 30-36

Congratulations and well done! It’s great that you’re so clued up and treating this subject with the care and consideration it requires.

The fact that you’re so on it means you’re probably always looking to stay ahead of the game. By developing a range of skills to tackle this, you’re creating a consistent method of improving your business results.

We provide bespoke training packages for leaders to empower them with tools and techniques that can easily change mind-sets and unwanted emotions. If you’d like to continue your journey and preserve your excellence in this key focus area, you can email me at natalie@podhr.co.uk to discuss further training options.

Sign-up to The People Expert newsletter and get a new technique guaranteed to improve your work results every Monday.

]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/are-you-on-top-of-emotional-well-being-in-your-business-use-this-questionnaire-to-find-out/feed/037841Are your team disrespecting the rules? Start changing that today with this simple approachhttps://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-team-disrespecting-the-rules-start-changing-that-today-with-this-simple-approach/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-team-disrespecting-the-rules-start-changing-that-today-with-this-simple-approach/#respondFri, 06 Apr 2018 09:51:45 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37833If you’ve experienced the frustration of simple rules being broken and it feels like you’re banging your head against a brick wall - I feel your pain!
I know what it’s like when you’re juggling all the responsibilities of running a business. The last thing you need is to have to deal with things that seem simple to you and should be easy for your employees to follow.

If you’ve experienced the frustration of simple rules being broken and it feels like you’re banging your head against a brick wall – I feel your pain!

I know what it’s like when you’re juggling all the responsibilities of running a business. The last thing you need is to have to deal with things that seem simple to you and should be easy for your employees to follow.

So why does this happen? Why is it that simple policies and processes aren’t followed time and time again?

We specialise in working with people at a deeper level, influencing their mind-sets. Experience tells us that you’ll be surprised with the reasons that they use to reject the rules. Often, they can resist it completely unconsciously, and not even see it as an issue until it’s flagged!

I know every leader can benefit from having the tools and techniques to gain this awareness, so I wanted to write this article. I want to give you a new approach to get to the root of the problem and rapidly provide the remedy.

Why do people reject rules?

Behind every behaviour is a cause. Often, it’s something buried deep inside the individuals mind. It can also be an external factor triggering the response.

Here are some of the most common examples of why people reject the rules:

You don’t follow your own employment policies

If you don’t follow your own policies, it’s unlikely that your team will respect them. This won’t be the first time you’ve heard the importance of leading by example! In this case, the document isn’t worth the paper it’s written on if you pick and choose which you stick to and which ones you don’t.

They don’t understand the rules

This actually happens a surprising amount, so don’t feel bad if this is your company. Employees can think that rules are petty if you don’t give them the ‘why’ behind them. All learning or change requires a ‘why’. Our minds want to know the purpose of doing things, and the key to getting compliance with rules is to help people understand how it directly relates to them or their values. What’s in it for them?!

Even if the rule is set for your benefit, I bet there’s something in it for them if you look closely enough.

They have freedom, power, or autonomy in their values system.

If they’re driven by these values, rules can feel very restricting. It’s like being in prison. And what do prisoners do? Yep. They want to get out. For these individuals, I would make sure that there are plenty of ways that you can fulfil these values. This could be allowing them to plan their own tasks, organise their own goals and schedule, giving them a brief and letting them experiment with it.

Then, when you come to asking them to comply with something, they’re more likely to be able to adjust because their needs are met in other ways.

You might be thinking that it’s not a need. They just have to accept that if they’re your employee, there will be rules. I do get it. Really I do!

But I’ve seen the extra stress and hassle this outlook can have.

An engaged and motivated workforce is far easier to manage than a resistant one, don’t you agree?

What I’m not saying is that you should satisfy their every need. For one, that’s just not possible 99% of the time. And two, there may be times when difficult decisions have to be made for the sake of the business. However, when people are valued and respected for their individuality, they will be more likely to go above and beyond or accept things when they need to.

This is because you’ve shown them that you care enough to do the same.

They’re testing the boundaries

Sometimes, people think there are rules, and there are unbreakable rules. If they don’t know the consequences and there are no transparent boundaries set, then they may find themselves trying to figure out where they stand and what rules mean by experimenting and learning from reactions.

It’s important to be clear and consistent in how you present your decisions if you want the team to take them seriously!

They forget them!

If there’s a lot of information to remember within your organisation, the chances are that the employee has deleted what wasn’t initially relevant to them at the time of hearing the policies.

You can’t really blame them for this or assume they’re being lazy with remembering it all. The mind can only handle a certain amount of information at once. So, unless your rules are presented in a way that helps them remember it, such as through pictures, sounds, or feelings, the chances are they will forget the long winded and detailed terminology!

They don’t feel valued

Sometimes, employees unconsciously want to pass along a message. Perhaps they don’t know how, or choose not to raise their concerns. However, they feel really dis-engaged and under-appreciated so they start showing this in resistance. It’s a form of communication, and it means you need to do something if you want the outcome to change.

The most important thing you can do is to find out why your employee is ignoring the rules, because it’ll mean different things to different people.

Here are some tips for avoiding this frustration in the future:

Consider the rules from all angles. Give careful thought to what it means for people on an individual level and for each department. Think of the impacts of time, the benefits, the risks, the purpose. When you make thoughtful choices, then this will come through in the way you speak about rules, processes, and policies. People can respect them more.

Communicate with your employees about the proposed rules/policies as they come up. Give them the what, how, why, and the what ifs. They will then have everything they need in order to understand how it applies to them and really understand the information you’re communicating.

What’s in it for them? Communicate that. Show them it’s not just about your own agenda and consult with them. Better yet, get their input before you implement the rule! Make it okay for them to voice their honest opinions and offer suggestions.

Get confirmation of their understanding. Make sure they really do get it either by summarising it back to you, or confirming it with a signature. Something that builds accountability!

Be transparent. People like leaders that can be human. When you put your ‘human hat’ on and speak about how you feel about the policies and how much it concerns you if they’re disregarded, people will know how important it is.

Give feedback. People may slip up. That doesn’t mean that they need to become a serial disrespecter! Talk to them, find out what’s happening, and give them feedback. This raises their awareness.

Check up on the success! Show them that you review the policies and will take their feedback into consideration. Find out how it’s working, identify any changes that need to be made, and get your people involved. They’ll be far more likely to follow the rules if they feel important enough to be included in some way.

Instead of just reading long sentences out (which I admit, I’ve been guilty of before!), sum up the policy in a short sentence that is easier to understand and remember. Metaphors work surprisingly well for something like this as it creates meaning with pictures, sounds, or feelings that won’t be forgotten. In inductions, I always emphasis key phrases. When I ask at the end of the day what they remembered, or do tests throughout the day, they always remember the phrases that were said in a different tone.

By implementing these 8 tips, you’re almost guaranteed to improve your team’s respect for the rules.

If you would like to address mindsets in your team, this is our speciality. We’re always happy to assist as we know everyone can be helped with the right approach. I didn’t really believe that before, but now I’ve seen the incredible transformation with hundreds of people so I know it to be true. It’s just about knowing the right way to get through to people.

If you would like to be an expert in this field, send me an email and we can work together to build a training program that gives you every vital communication technique necessary to make you a Master Communicator.

Alternatively, sign-up to The People Expert newsletter below to get a weekly tip or technique to try out in your business!

Sign-up to The People Expert newsletter and get a new technique guaranteed to improve your work results every Monday.

]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-team-disrespecting-the-rules-start-changing-that-today-with-this-simple-approach/feed/037833Got an employee that won’t move with the times?https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/got-an-employee-that-wont-move-with-the-times/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/got-an-employee-that-wont-move-with-the-times/#respondWed, 04 Apr 2018 07:30:30 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37828One of the most common challenges I hear when providing Leadership Training and Coaching is resistance to change.
Employees that resist change are often perceived as the problem that holds everything and everyone back.
Many of us have worked with at least one person that always finds a fault in proposed changes, and refuses to buy-in or comply.
Sound familiar?

One of the most common challenges I hear when providing Leadership Training and Coaching is resistance to change.

Employees that resist change are often perceived as the problem that holds everything and everyone back.

Many of us have worked with at least one person that always finds a fault in proposed changes, and refuses to buy-in or comply.

Sound familiar?

At POD HR and Training, we are performance improvement specialists and we work with leaders and their employees to achieve the best results, maximising performance and profit.

We’re also NLP Practitioners and Trainers, which means we have in-depth knowledge and vast experience of using language to connect with employees at a deeper level. I can understand beliefs and values that shape their decisions and behaviours at work.

This means that we can provide leaders with the tools to overcome employee resistance.

In my NLP Training, I was taught this: There are no resistance people, only inflexible communicators.

Now, you might be thinking that this simply isn’t true. There are absolutely resistance people, I hear you!

However, by embracing this, even in part, it enables you to improve what you get from people because it encourages you to find the right key to open the communication door.

I know the importance of innovation and bringing people in your organisation with you. I wanted to share some valuable language tools and techniques that will help you get inside your employee thought process and influence at a deeper level.

Know what is important to them (their hot buttons)

How can you influence someone if you don’t know what’s important to them?

It’s like someone trying to sell you something before they know if you’ve got any need for it. Have you experienced that?

Every time you speak to your employees, you’re influencing their thinking. Your words matter.

It’s useful to get into the habit of asking before you tell. Enquire before you conclude. Establish need before you present a solution. I have no doubt that you can see how this makes sense!

So, you might be wondering…how can I know what’s important to them?

When you find out what’s important to your employees, you’re accessing their values. It’s surprisingly simple!

All you need to do is remember a few specific, yet simple, language patterns. Like this:

“What’s important to you about your career?”

Easy, right?

Now, to build on this. You need to master how to speak to the deeper mind and get the truth out.

Intention is everything. People can subconsciously feel your intentions. So, before you have the conversation, work on creating a genuine intention to understand your employee better for their gain as well as your own.

When you do this, you’ll know if you’re getting the truth from their values system if their answers are quick, short, and fairly big picture.

An example of this would be words like:

Communication, trust, autonomy, connections.

All of these words could mean different things to different people. They’re not sentences, they’re powerful words. They’re the individuals ‘hot buttons’.

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]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/got-an-employee-that-wont-move-with-the-times/feed/037828Concerned some of your employees may be slacking? Manage it with ease with these simple stepshttps://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/concerned-some-of-your-employees-may-be-slacking-manage-it-with-ease-with-these-simple-steps/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/concerned-some-of-your-employees-may-be-slacking-manage-it-with-ease-with-these-simple-steps/#respondFri, 30 Mar 2018 06:52:05 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37819If you’re a hard working business leader, consistently busting a gut to get great results, there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re paying people salaries and they’re slacking off.

If you’re a hard working business leader, consistently busting a gut to get great results, there’s nothing worse than feeling like you’re paying people salaries and they’re slacking off.

It can be really painful when employees want to receive pay increases when every time you look around they’re having a chit chat with their neighbour, seemingly not getting on with pushing the business forward.

Can you relate to this?

If you can, this article is for you.

I’ve worked with an extensive range of Business Leaders across a range of sectors and it’s one of the common frustrations I hear when coaching.

That said, it can feel like a huge deal. The emotions attached to this situation can feel overwhelming, but it actually can be easily remedied. It’s not necessary to keep it bubbling away until your blood boils.

Even the most confident of business leaders sometimes struggle with difficult conversations and feedback. The thought process seems to be “I shouldn’t have to tell them that”.

Now..it’s not for me to tell you to speak to them about it or not. Only you know if you would rather make changes and start improving your performance.

At POD HR & Training, we provide leadership development in Brighton and the surrounding area. Sometimes, we even travel further afield. In fact, just a few weeks ago I was in Newcastle! Leadership development is one of our specialist areas, so I wanted to share some insights into some easy and effective ways to re-shape your view of the situation and take action to resolve it.

Concern or reality?

First, it’s important to ensure that you’re making a fair and reasonable conclusion. I know. Sounds boring. However, I promise it’s essential for your bottom line!

Mis-judging people breaks trust. It can also cause you to end up paying out unnecessary recruitment costs if you scare people away with false perceptions that are due to your own concerns or a tarnished view from past experiences.

I’ll give you an example.

I saw a new client recently. He’d had CCTV installed last year and has since caught an employee reading what he thought was a magazine at work. He got frustrated at all of the time he was looking down, rather than at the computer. Over the next few weeks, he was getting more and more flustered as time went on.

One day, he decided to confront the employee. When he got there, he discovered it was a trade magazine which the employee was reviewing to develop his product knowledge.

The conclusions we make in our mind can be very dangerous!

It’s far better to be curious and investigate before passing judgement. Curiosity before conclusions could save you thousands of pounds in recruitment costs by keeping relationships in a healthy state.

Address it before it builds up

Creating a feedback culture is the answer to all of your slacking woes.

Recently, I was a key speaker at a leadership group. One of the key things that came to light is that leaders can take a surprisingly long time to address difficult situations.

Partly, this is because they’re frustrated that they have to have the conversation, making quick judgements about behaviours. Aside from that, many Leaders are unsure how to turn their frustration into professional feedback.

Holding back feedback is as risky as driving through a red light.

Eventually there will be a crash and burn.

Every day you hold it back, it’s bubbling away inside translating into your actions and behaviours towards your employees. This often creates an invisible barrier that can drive people away, and not just the ones that you think are slacking! You could be losing your top talent. They can sense the emotion in you and make their own meaning from it.

One of the worst things you can do is be walking around, frustrated as if a dark cloud was following you through the office. People feel it. Then, they get distracted from the task in hand whilst they try and figure out why you’re behaving differently.

In addition to that, the more you treat employees like they’re slacking, the more this will become the reality.

Why?

Because when people feel your judgement or frustration, they’ll become even more de-motivated and things can get worse.

So, what do you do instead?

Investigate.

Get the facts

Give feedback

There’s a structured way to deliver feedback effectively.

In NLP, we understand how the mind receives and blocks information. We use a feedback tool which gets past the ‘gatekeeper’ of the mind and straight to the control panel where change can occur.

The process for this is as follows:

Say what they’re doing well AND what they can improve.

For example:

“You’re doing really well with the customer calls coming in. Your greeting is really professional! AND now to improve on that even further, you can think about how you use your time to maximise more of your day on business critical tasks.”

What if you still see unwanted behaviours?

More feedback!!

Feedback is not a one off task. A business coach once told me many years ago that if you’ve not given training, coaching, or feedback that day, you’ve not been a leader.

Feedback is always ongoing.

That said, if the same issue keeps coming back, you should change the tone of the feedback.

For example:

“What you’re doing well is your tone with the customer AND now I need you to work on acting on my feedback. There have been several occasions when I’ve asked you to maximise more of your day and I’m still seeing no increase in customer calls. This is really important. What are your plans to make these changes? How many calls can I expect to see? What could prevent you from achieving this? How can you overcome that? What do you need from me?”

It could be that they need coaching rather than feedback. Feedback is suitable for a team member that’s at the top end of the learning curve. This means that they have all the knowledge and skills required to do the job, but for some reason they’re not quite there.

Set goals

Slacking could also be a symptom that they’re not clear on the best ways to use their time. They could lack purpose.

That’s why setting goals is key to keep performance moving forwards.

Have you heard of SMART goals?

A SMART goal is:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Time bound

This is the definition of a real goal that will keep performance constantly moving upwards.

If your team isn’t behaving as you would expect, perhaps you could review what they’re working towards. When I work with Leaders and their teams, I often ask the team what their goals are and what is expected of them.

This helps me to check if their understanding matches that of their leaders. Often, they don’t even know what’s expected of them!

You need to remember this: People don’t wake up in the morning and think “I’m going to fail today”.

If something is going wrong, it’s our job as Leaders to get to the bottom of it and change it. Getting worked up won’t solve anything.

Another engaging goal setting tool we use with employees is an NLP technique called ‘Keys to achievable outcomes’.

Ask them about their motivation

Ask them how motivated they are out of 10, and what holds it back from being a 10.

If you care and ask them this with sincerity, they WILL give you the answers. Then you can start to get the best out of them.

If you would like to find out more about how to address behaviour changes and improve performance feel free to email me at natalie@podhr.co.uk. We’re performance improvement specialists, and we do it by accessing employee values and beliefs. We specialise in change work and getting the absolute best out of people, so we’re always happy to guide or provide coaching and training.

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]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/concerned-some-of-your-employees-may-be-slacking-manage-it-with-ease-with-these-simple-steps/feed/037819How does NLP improve communication? – Infographichttps://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/infographic/how-does-nlp-improve-communication/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/infographic/how-does-nlp-improve-communication/#respondThu, 29 Mar 2018 08:06:46 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37815Are you trying to improve your communication at work? NLP could be the answer to your problems. By using NLP language tools you could make sure your messages are heard and understood in the manner you intend them to be, rather than wrong assumptions being made...

By using NLP language tools you could make sure your messages are heard and understood in the manner you intend them to be, rather than wrong assumptions being made and errors occurring.

There are many different language patterns used by NLP Practitioners to improve communication. In this infographic we wanted to go through the impact it could have on your business if you included NLP in your training programmes.

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]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/infographic/how-does-nlp-improve-communication/feed/037815Are your customers spending less? Arm your team with these powerful techniques to sell more.https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-customers-spending-less-powerful-techniques-to-sell-more/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-customers-spending-less-powerful-techniques-to-sell-more/#respondWed, 28 Mar 2018 08:31:07 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37806It’s always important to be aware of your average customer spend and have clear reporting in place. This kind of report usually speaks volumes about the success of your sales team.
Many people think that reductions in spend relates to a generalised trend or economic changes, but experience of working with many sales teams tells me otherwise. Every challenge is an opportunity. There’s ALWAYS something to learn about what your team can be doing differently to improve results.

It’s always important to be aware of your average customer spend and have clear reporting in place. This kind of report usually speaks volumes about the success of your sales team.

Many people think that reductions in spend relates to a generalised trend or economic changes, but experience of working with many sales teams tells me otherwise. Every challenge is an opportunity. There’s ALWAYS something to learn about what your team can be doing differently to improve results.

Build a deeper connection and align services with customer values

Sometimes, people will assume they know what’s important to the customer. It’s not their fault necessarily. They’ll hear one thing and forget to continue digging for more information.

In order to get to what the customer REALLY wants, you need to access their values.

Values exist at a deeper level and it takes a specific use of tone and language to bring them out.

Here’s the golden question:

“What is important to you about….?”

Depending on your business, you can either end this sentence with a product or service. By finding out what’s important, you find out what really matters to them and how you can fulfil their deeper needs.

Sometimes customers can answer this consciously. Sometimes, however, the truth comes out subconsciously when the correct question is asked.

The ideal answer will have 5-7 words, blurted out quite quickly. That’s how you know it’s the subconscious mind speaking.

Anything long or analytical is what they THINK is important, rather than what they really believe is important to them on a deeper level.

After you ask the first question, you should keep asking “What else is important to you about…?” until you get 5-7 answers.

Here are some examples of customer values:

Trust

Reliability

Value

Honesty

Speed

Easy

Happiness

This is the kind of thing you should be expecting. Key words, rather than sentences.

From there, it’s important to know what they meant by these words. Everyone has a different representation of language and there will be variances.

To be everything they want, you need to truly understand them.

On our sales and customer service training programmes, we train them in deeper questioning techniques to better understand the hierarchy of customer needs. We give them the skills to get to grips with what’s driving the values so they can be equipped to be the dream supplier!

Be curious and learn

If you have integrity and you truly want to be the best for your customers, they can feel it.

If you’re unsure of what’s going on with the customers spending pattern with you, you can simply ask! They’ll know that you care enough to pay close attention and they’ll feel important.

You can start by saying:

“I’ve noticed that your orders have reduced from x to y and regardless of how many or how often you order, I want to understand if you’re getting the right service. I always want to learn from our customer and be the best I can. What can I improve about our products of services? What’s caused you to reduce your orders with us? What can I learn from this?”

I know you don’t need me to tell you this, but your team might. A lot of sales people inadvertently show their cards without realising it.

It’s really important that these kinds of conversations are had with a curious tone, rather than a demanding one. That screams out “all we want is more of your money”.

I’m not suggesting that people pretend. The customer will see right through that.

This is about developing a culture and belief in the integrity of this process. A team that are genuinely curious and care about what they can learn and how they can improve is the most effective team you could have.

However, adding extra work or new methods to your sales process can challenge the team so it’s best you gain buy-in before you try and implement this.

In all of our bespoke training programmes, we align the learnings and new techniques with how it benefits the team and get them on board using NLP tools. This is an extremely powerful way of getting the most out of employees, so have a read of our article on how NLP helps business here.

Understand the customer challenges

As we know, when there are genuine pressures on budget (or even when there isn’t), people pay for products and services that will actually make a difference to them. It’s imperative that your team understands what challenges their customers are facing.

At that point, you can tailor products and services to how it will address their pain points. If you do this effectively, they will buy.

They’ll continue to buy what adds value to their business. So, your team needs to know what will, and won’t, add that value.

Address the team attitude

If the team accept that customers are just spending less and start believing that it’s down to the economy, customers will definitely continue to spend less. You’ll be missing out on opportunity and profit.

That is a limiting belief.

Instead of looking at the can or can’ts, get your team to focus on the HOW.

There will always be a way to win business, even in tough times. Even if it means targeting different industries, pitching services in completely new ways, innovating new products..there’s always a way.

Get your team believing this and they’ll start being inspirational and more consultative with customers. You’ll be more influential and stand out from the crowd.

NLP techniques to address limiting beliefs

Anchoring is also a great tool. It keeps your team in a calm and positive mental state. This is exactly what you need when working with customers. Learn more about Anchoring here.

Many clients call us in to address behaviours and attitudes. Skills training is great, but without mind-set management to go along with it, you won’t get the ROI you need. NLP coaching can help you to do deeper and make sure the skills are implemented effectively.

I hope you enjoyed reading about getting your team curious about customer spend! I wish you every success in finding the customers hot buttons so that you can win the market share.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss how we can help you get that customer spend report in better shape, you can drop me an email at natalie@podhr.co.uk or contact us through the website!

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]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-your-customers-spending-less-powerful-techniques-to-sell-more/feed/037806Is stress impacting your team performance? Find out how to combat stress with these essential tips!https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/is-stress-impacting-your-team-performance-find-out-how-to-combat-stress-with-these-essential-tips/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/is-stress-impacting-your-team-performance-find-out-how-to-combat-stress-with-these-essential-tips/#respondMon, 26 Mar 2018 09:41:06 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37798Research shows that stress is one of the most common barriers to employee performance. In many cases, organisations are building up unnecessary recruitment costs because staff are being labelled as underperformers, when in fact their potential is being blocked by the impacts of stress.

Research shows that stress is one of the most common barriers to employee performance. In many cases, organisations are building up unnecessary recruitment costs because staff are being labelled as underperformers, when in fact their potential is being blocked by the impacts of stress.

At POD HR & Training, we are performance improvement specialists. We work with businesses to get the ultimate performance levels from their team through transformational coaching and NLP.

Just recently, one of my clients was nearly at the point of losing a staff member, having to pay for recruitment and training all over again. So, they called me in. I had a session with the staff member and uncovered the real roots of the problem: they were overwhelmed with stress from both work and their home life.

This enabled change to take place and the individual totally transformed their behaviour.

When I went to visit them last week, several people approached me to say how different that individual is, and the difference he’s now making to the company.

It’s always rewarding to get people back on track and overcome the barriers to their performance.

We know how important it is to manage stress and the benefits that getting it right can bring. I wanted to write this article to help business leaders become stress busters with a view of increasing performance and productivity.

Expression is a release

When you’re busy wearing many leadership hats, it can be frustrating to have to find time to deal with emotions.

That said, burying the issue is quite possibly the worst thing you can do! It can build and spiral out of control.

Companies that have an open culture where it’s safe to express themselves truthfully and without judgement enjoy a much higher employee engagement and retention.

Many companies say they have an open and honest culture, when in fact people are penalised when they express any opinions that are contrary to the management’s opinions.

I’m not saying it’s easy to build an open culture, it requires courageous and humble leadership.

If you can let go of your perceptions and truly listen to people, there can be a lot to learn that will make your business break beyond performance boundaries.

When you create a safe space for truthful expression, you’re creating the opportunity for people to release emotions and let go. The more they can be authentic and express themselves truthfully, the better their emotional well-being. From there, their performance can improve.

If you want to reduce the impacts of stress and start getting the best out of people, have a close look at what opportunities there are for your employees to communicate their opinions.

Learn language patterns that get people outside the problem

As a Master Practitioner of NLP, I can say from experience that your language as a leader can have significant impact on emotional behaviours in your business.

There are incredible language techniques you can learn from NLP. That’s why we build NLP into all of our leadership training. It helps leaders develop mindsets as well as skills in their team.

A common cause of stress is the feeling of being trapped. When you take someone outside the issue they’re trapped in, they can breathe again and view it from a different angle.

Here are some language patterns that take someone outside of the problem:

When wasn’t it a problem?

How isn’t it a problem?

How have you moved on from that problem now?

How is it not a problem now?

Another key phrase to learn is:

What is there to learn from this, the learning which will allow you to let go?

There’s another language tool within NLP which drills down into the problem itself to find the root. This is called the Meta Model.

An example of this would be:

How is it a problem?

What causes you to choose to think that?

How specifically?

Compared to what?

The idea of the Meta model is to uncover the cause and effect.

For example:

“Because I don’t have enough experience, it means that I can’t get the respect I want.”

The ‘because’ makes this a cause and effect, which means that it’s a limiting belief.

Often, our ‘becauses’ are causing us stress when they’re not really true. The Meta Model helps you uncover the truth of the issue.

NLP Anchoring

Anchoring is a powerful NLP technique which helps people get into their most resourceful states of mind.

Anchors can be set up quickly and easily when you know how. However, it’s a specialist skill and it’s one we almost always train on our leadership and sales training. It’s such an incredible driver for ultimate performance!

The concept of anchoring is that you use language to elicit the most powerful emotional states in people and anchor it into their system, either physically or conversationally.

Once you stack people’s resourceful states, they can access them and collapse negative triggers that bring out the unwanted emotions.

I helped a business leader recently with managing frustration. We set up an anchor for him and a few days later he had noticed about 40 triggers that would have previously angered him, making him smile instead. He felt empowered to have broken his old pattern!

Consider an NLP Coach

Many companies have called us in for NLP Coaching and seen dramatic improvements in their team behaviours and performance.

We’re not necessarily right for everyone so I’m not suggesting you consider an NLP as a sales approach! We often turn down business because we only work with clients when we know we’re the best solution for them.

There are many effective NLP Coaching solutions out there that could come into your business and help your team. The transformation can be huge.

An NLP Coach can work with stress, anxiety, lack of confidence, low self-esteem, anger, nerves, unwanted habits..the list really goes on and on!

You probably don’t need me to tell you that by clearing up these issues, your employees can be far more focused on the task in hand!

NLP Coaching can cost more per session, but in most cases the challenges can be resolved in just 1 session, maybe 2. Overall, this tends to be more affordable than other solutions.

I hope you’ve found this article useful! Thanks for reading. The fact that you’ve read it means you’re already better equipped to tackle stress in your team.

I’m always happy to advise on this, so please feel free to email me on natalie@podhr.co.uk to find out more on how NLP can help solve your current people challenges. Alternatively, have a look through our learning centre to see more free advice!

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]]>https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/is-stress-impacting-your-team-performance-find-out-how-to-combat-stress-with-these-essential-tips/feed/037798Are emotional reactions slowing down results in your business? Find out how to remove these barriers and increase success.https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-emotional-reactions-slowing-down-results-in-your-business/
https://www.podhr.co.uk/learning-centre/article/are-emotional-reactions-slowing-down-results-in-your-business/#respondFri, 23 Mar 2018 10:52:36 +0000https://www.podhr.co.uk/?p=37791Emotional states have a significant impact on behaviours. You may have noticed a lack of productivity at work when you’re feeling down, or being unable to focus when you’re distracted by personal problems.
That’s why it’s recommended to avoid decisions when angry. Overpowering emotions can cloud judgement.

Emotional states have a significant impact on behaviours. You may have noticed a lack of productivity at work when you’re feeling down, or being unable to focus when you’re distracted by personal problems.

With that in mind, how you manage your emotions at work determines your behaviours. This in turn determines your profit and productivity.

I’ve been in leadership and management positions for around 14 years. I’ve developed a powerful toolkit to lead people through emotional turbulence.

As a Master Practitioner of NLP, Neuro Linguistic Programming, I have an extensive range of tools and techniques to work with the mind. I can release emotional blockages and empower people to get back to their most resourceful state.

Often emotional states can be changed easily and effortlessly in a few sentences over 5 minutes when you have the know-how!

Having been in a leadership position before and after NLP, I’ve seen the incredible impact it can have on time-saving, staff retention, cost saving, and profit generation. Let’s face it, every time your employee is in a negative state it’s impossible for them to be as productive as when they’re in a good state. Right?

We’re all human, after all. If energy is attached to an emotion or a problem, it’s energy that could otherwise be used to improve your business.

I’m so, so passionate about getting the best out of people, so I’d like to share tips that can help business leaders deal with employee behaviours. After all, your salary costs are likely to be one of your biggest costs. Why not get the best possible return?

Throughout this article, I will share NLP insights and processes that can help you overcome the emotional blockages that may be slowing your business down.

Labelling can be lethal for your relationships

In order to clear emotional blockages, you first need to work on how you view the situation.

It’s so easy to make quick conclusions about what you see in someone, in business or otherwise. Each of us have different filters which translate what we see, hear, and feel into meaning.

That’s why perceptions can be so dangerous. They’re not necessarily the reality. It’s simply what you make of the situation.

For example, someone folding their arms often gets perceived as bored.

In fact, it could be for any other reasons, including:

Cold

Self-conscious

Comfortable

Happy

Vulnerable

Nervous

Anxious

You get the idea.

When we label behaviours too quickly, we’re sparking more emotional flames. Decisions become part of the filters in our mind and once we’ve made a decision about something, it becomes a part of our mindset. Every new behaviour we see will be filtered with this decision and still be there at a subconscious level.

Once it’s a part of our filters, our behaviour towards that person will change (even if we don’t consciously realise it!).

It can very quickly lead to heightened emotions, mis-understanding, and a resignation letter.

So how do we avoid labelling? To a point, it’s human nature, right?

Here’s how you do it…Curiosity!

That one simple word holds such great power! We’ve all heard the saying knowledge is power. So, how do we get knowledge without the curiosity to learn?

When you develop the habit of curiosity, you’ll start to better understand what’s really going on with your people. That’s the first step to getting them to their optimum performance level.

So perhaps you could consider starting to consciously have the thought ‘that’s interesting, what does that mean?’ as opposed to jumping to ‘this means this’.

Whenever you hear yourself making a label, conclusion, or judgement, challenge yourself to think outside of the habit and expand your mind. Consider what else it could mean and have the curiosity to find out.

Ask them.

Conscious use of language

Language is a driver for determining how we make meaning of the world. The language you use in your business can either enhance or decrease your performance.

Working on how you use your language will have one of the biggest impacts on how your team respond to you.

That’s why we include NLP in all of our leadership training courses. We know how you communicate has one of the biggest impacts on whether your employees stay of go, perform or underperform.

Words have massive power, you need to learn to choose them carefully!

Even the most subtle of changes in your language can shift someone’s perspective.

For example:

“The problem from yesterday is really frustrating for me”

Could instead be:

“Yes, that old problem that was happening yesterday was frustrating back then”

You’ve probably already noticed what the difference is. It’s leaving it in the past. This implies that things have moved on, whether they have or not.

As this language goes into the mind of the employee, it will shift their perspective. The neurological response is different when you’re inside a problem compared to when you’re looking back on it.

You’re leading their subconscious mind to see it from a different angle so it doesn’t feel the same.

The other way you can use language is to encourage them to look around the problem, rather than only at the problem itself. So, you could say something like:

How isn’t it a problem now?

By asking them to consider how it isn’t a problem, something else will appear in their thoughts other than the problem. This allows the problem to fade into the background so they can focus on what’s around it.

The use of the word “now” may seem out of place, but that’s what makes it so powerful. It brings them to the present moment, and the present moment is always filled with possibility.

Problems don’t really exist in the present moment.

There may be problems surrounding the moment, but they’re either in the past of what it means for the future. When you’re fully in the present, you’re empowered and able to absorb information much more effectively. You won’t miss things because you’re stuck in your own head, repeating thoughts like a whirlwind.

I really hope you enjoy experimenting with this and see some great results.

If you want to learn more powerful tools to help change mind-sets and behaviours in your business, we help many of our clients with bespoke training specifically about this area. We would be happy to have a relaxed chat with you to see what you want to achieve and whether we can help you reach these goals.

Alternatively, you can find plenty of resources in our learning centre and can sign up to The People Expert to receive weekly tips in this area!

Sign-up to The People Expert newsletter and get a new technique guaranteed to improve your work results every Monday.